Carla Bruni-Sarkozy heard as “indicted” after Ziad Takieddine’s retraction

Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife was interviewed in the premises of the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses. She walked away without legal action at this point.

Carla Bruni was summoned on Thursday, May 2 in the morning to be heard in a free hearing as a defendant in the context of the judicial investigation relating to the conditions of Ziad Takieddine’s retraction, franceinfo learned on Thursday from a judicial source. Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife was interviewed in the premises of the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF). This hearing is over, Franceinfo learned from consistent sources. Arriving at 9 a.m., she was heard for five hours.

According to information from franceinfo, there are no legal proceedings at this stage. At the end of her hearing, Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife could be indicted, be placed under the status of assisted witness, be summoned later for these two reasons or leave without legal consequences.

Paul Mallet and Benoît Martinez, lawyers for Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, confirm that their client “went this morning as agreed to a free hearing which lasted almost three hours”. They add : “During this hearing, which took place in a calm atmosphere, she was able to provide all the useful insights and explanations.”

Ziad Takieddine accuses Nicolas Sarkozy of having financed his 2007 presidential campaign with Libyan funds. In November 2020, the Franco-Lebanese intermediary, the main prosecution witness against the former president since 2012, recanted on BFMTV and Paris Match by declaring that the former head of state had no “not received a cent, cash or no cash, for the presidential election” of 2007 from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. On the run to Lebanon, to escape his conviction in the Karachi affair, Ziad Takieddine retracted his remarks two months later before the investigating magistrates.

A judicial investigation was opened in May 2021 for “witness tampering”, “criminal conspiracy with a view to committing the offense of organized gang fraud” and “fraud with a view to committing the offense of corruption of foreign judicial personnel”. At the beginning of October, Nicolas Sarkozy was indicted in this case for “concealment of witness tampering” and “criminal conspiracy with a view to preparing trial fraud by an organized gang”. He disputes the facts.